Pompeo to meet N. Korean counterpart Thurs. in N.Y.: U.S.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with his North Korean counterpart on Thursday in New York to continue denuclearization talks, the State Department said Monday.

(Mike Pompeo (R) shake hands with Kim Yong Chol in New York in May 2018) [Photo courtesy of the U.S. State Department]

Pompeo and Kim Yong Chol, a vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, will discuss issues including «achieving the final, fully verified denuclearization» of North Korea, the department said in a brief statement.

The ruling party vice chairman is a close aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The two countries have been at odds over ways to get Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

North Korea has yet to take credible action to dismantle its weapons programs despite Kim Jong Un pledging in a historic meeting with Trump in June in Singapore to work toward «complete» denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.